Raptors and Great Salt Lake

28 August 2019

Conservation Science Director Dr. Steve Slater contributed recently to the Spring 2019 newsletter from FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake. Along with their work to achieve comprehensive watershed-based restoration and protection, FRIENDS regularly works in partnership with HawkWatch International to shed insights into the health of raptors and their prey at varying distances from this important ecosystem.

"Great Salt Lake is a defining and influential feature of Utah and the West as a whole. It has guided human and wildlife migrations for ages, has an outsized impact on our local weather, and an even larger impact on a wide range of bird species that depend on the Lake for nesting, migration, and wintering. Similarly, the Lake has a large influence on raptor populations, or birds of prey, during all seasons. Perhaps it’s not too surprising then, that the Lake figures prominently in the story of HawkWatch International, a raptor conservation organization based here in Salt Lake City."